From Fear to Faith*

I cannot necessarily say I’m a man’s man. I mean, sure, I love sports and a good action movie, but I’ve never been terribly macho or one to take risks. Now honestly, I know those stereotypical things are not what makes a man, but let’s face it, we can be deceived into thinking such silliness. When we began our adoption journey, there was a particular risk-aversion I had to overcome: money. With the estimated costs of adoption in the neighborhood of $30,000, this wasn’t just daunting, it was practically debilitating. I had shared this fear with two other godly men, both of whom adopted internationally, and each one said almost the exact same thing to me: don’t let money be an obstacleto adoption.

Those words rumbled through my head and my heart as I considered all the times Tiffany and I had talked about adoption.Everything began to change at the end of 2013, when within the span of a few short weeks the Lord confirmed the call to adoption in our hearts. We completed the initial application process, but I could not get past the expense of adoption as I wondered and worried from where the money would come; that is until Tiffany said something to me that put it all in perspective: if we can pay for a minivan, we can pay for an adoption. That one commentgave me a tangible point of reference and I was able to fully commit.

Taking up the cause of the fatherless is a biblical mandate (Isaiah 1:17 | Psalm 82:3), and if it’s important to God, He will make a way. It was critically important for me as the leader of our household to trust in God and the calling He placed upon our lives. With that trust, I shared the calling with our family. Sure there were some skeptics, but we received love and unwavering support from those who knew us best. Next, we felt movement when I shared the call to adopt with our church family. The synergistic power of the Holy Spirit began surging through our church in amazing ways as they overwhelmingly answered the callto walk with us in our adoption journey. Then, we took our story out into the greater community and connected with people and organizations that share a passion for orphan care. That was whenthe unbelievable commenced as God blew our minds by strengthening existing relationships; forging new relationships with others on differing stages of a similar journey; and before we knew it, the need was met.

Did you know that humans process fear and faith in the same part of the brain, the amygdala? Personally, I had to get over the fear of not having enough money and turn it into faith in the One who moves mountains. It started with a little perspective from my wife,grew as I learned to trust in God, and really began changing my life when we connected with others who also believe in taking up the cause of the fatherless. As I look back, it is nothing short of miraculous, but it is more than just dollars and cents…miracles occur when people rally together to answer God’s call, each one doing his or her part, to make a difference in the life of others.

Speaking to you man to man, let me share something from the bottom of my heart: where God plants the vision, God provides the provision. I admit that part of this journey for me has been more of a test of faith than finances, but when I gained a little perspective, trusted more deeply in the Lord, answered God’s call, and connected with other followers of Jesus, miraclesmaterialized. This is God’s business and I am convinced He is looking for ways to bless all of His children.

So allow me to close with the same advice I had to receive twice to truly understand: don’t let money be an obstacle to adoption. If God is giving you a vision, God will give you the provision. Trust me, not because I’m a man’s man, but because I overcame my fear with faith and trust in my heavenly Father who has given us all amandate: to take up the cause of the fatherless.

Aflame

This past Sunday we experienced a wonderful convergence in the calendar for the Christian year – and Methodism in particular – as we celebrated Pentecost and Aldersgate Day.

Pentecost is the day we celebrate GOD’s sending of the Holy Spirit to be the counselor and guide Jesus promised. The Book of Acts tells us that when the Holy Spirit came, it blew into the room where the disciples were and rested like tongues of flame above their heads. This blessed the disciples with the ability to share the good news of Jesus with a diverse array of people in their own languages.

Aldersgate Day is the day we remember a profound experience that John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) had when he realized that GOD did indeed love him and forgave him of his sin. Wesley described this experience as feeling his heart strangely warmed, which ignited a passion within him that inspired a global movement of revival to share the love of GOD in Jesus Christ.

As we consider both Pentecost and Aldersgate Day through an important theological lens, we realize that both deal with the fact the GOD loves us enough to meet us where we are, but too much to leave us there. Pentecost enabled and empowered the disciples to share the love of GOD with people across the world in a way that was meaningful to those who needed to hear the good news of Jesus. Similarly, the Methodist movement has been characterized with deploying followers of Jesus across the globe in such a way as to share the gospel with people within their own context. At Cokes Chapel, this is precisely what we mean when we talk about making disciples to transform the world here, there, and everywhere!

My favorite John Wesley quote is, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come from miles to watch you burn.” I think this is a perfect quote to consider with the other two metaphors of fire – the tongues of flame on Pentecost and the warming love of GOD that changed Wesley’s heart, and as a result, the world – as we think about our own passion for who GOD is and what GOD has done for us.

Have you surrendered your life in such a way that you can be ignited with the Holy Spirit? Are you aflame with passion thanks to the love of GOD in Jesus Christ? Are you aflame with passion to share that with others? The world is in desperate need of people who will passionately share the love of Jesus by meeting people in the midst of their need.

John Wesley made it his practice to go where the people were, since GOD’s did the exact same thing in sending Jesus and the Holy Spirit. May we be aflame with the love of GOD and experience GOD’s life-changing power as we seek to meet people where they are, catch on fire with enthusiasm for the Lord, and share that message with all the world!

Rest Area

Well folks, we made it... we finished our “U-Turns Allowed” message series. As we closed the series this past week, we explored the need to develop a healthy rhythm of living – working, and resting – as we continue in the long journey down Jesus Road (Rest Area).

The growth of the highway rest area arose during the interstate construction project under President Eisenhower. Rest areas — initially called, safety rest areas — were places for people to make a pit stop right off the highway to stretch their legs, use the restrooms, get some nourishment, and rest before resuming the journey. Additionally, the vision for these rest areas was to provide a park-like environment where people could experience some grass amongst the asphalt and take advantage of facilities that were to be built as an homage to local architecture as a way to help deal with the unintended consequences that the interstates had on the small towns that dried up when tourists were no longer traveling through.

You can see that the idea of the rest area has a pretty insightful spiritual connection with our journey down Jesus Road. We need a regular time and place to pause in the midst of our journey without exiting Jesus Road. We need time to recharge, replenish, refuel, and recover in the midst of a long journey. Without the proper rest, we will wear down so badly in mind, body, and soul that we are no use to self, others, or God. Just as a rest area on the highway provides regular opportunities for rest and replenish, God gave us sabbath to do the same for our spiritual lives.

The 4^th of the 10 Commandments is to remember the sabbath and keep it holy. Exodus 20:8-11 teaches us that God worked for 6 days creating the world and everything in it, and on the 7^th day, God rested. The sabbath, therefore, is a for us to remember God’s work, and to remind us to rest from ours.

Observing the sabbath requires a rhythmic discipline of learning to live, work, and rest with God. Admittedly, resting is something we often struggle with, because of the high value of work we place in our culture. But think about it: to not rest in the Lord is a violation of the 4^th Commandment and a sin. Staggering thought, isn’t it?

When we aren’t resting, we are wearing ourselves out, no doubt about it. Then when it comes to experience the rhythms of life and grace, we often have to force it, leaving us even more exhausted! Consider The Message version of Jesus’ words as recorded in Matthew 11:28-30, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Sounds great, doesn't it? Recovery of life…taking a real rest…learning the rhythms of life and grace from the Lord Jesus Himself. And it really is, but we’ll never get there if we do not take the time to recharge, replenish, refuel, and recover in the midst of life’s journey. We need rest areas so we can pause without exiting Jesus Road, keeping us sharp for the rest of our journey. This prevents us from getting worn out that we take matters into our own hands and refuse to yield to Jesus; we won’t get so burned out that we lose patience with others and refuse to help them merge onto Jesus Road; we won’t get so tired that we decide to quit (No Parking) at the first sign of trouble or hazards on the road (Slippery Road Ahead). We must remember that our journey down Jesus Road is a lifelong journey that begins when we decide to make a U-Turn to think and live differently, thanks to the love and grace of God.

U-Turns are allowed and will change your life! Keep easing on down the road, and don’t let the troubles of the world keep you from persevering. There are others in the world who need your life experience and perspective to help them keep going when the going gets tough, so continue to follow Jesus and learn to enjoy the regular and rhythmic rest that God gives (and commands!) you to take so you are ready for what the journey has in store for you.

Yield

Making our way down Jesus Road, we had a great Sunday where we considered the yield sign in our U-Turns Allowed series. “Yield” is the perfect topic to consider after last week’s message, Merge. Let’s be honest, yielding can be challenging for us at times, because our human nature often wants to compete for the top spot. Yielding, however, requires us to be alert and aware of our surroundings – whether we’re in a rush, a bad mood, or just oblivious – and acknowledge who really is in charge…Jesus!

In Matthew 28:18, we read where Jesus said that all authority in haven and on earth was given to Him. In other words, it’s not our job to be in charge. When we yield the authority to Jesus, we are freed from having to worry about certain details so we can do our work of making disciples by leading and welcoming people onto Jesus Road, and then traveling with them along the way.

Developing an understanding of what it means to call Jesus, Lord, is critically important. In Romans 10:9, we read, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” When Paul called Jesus, Lord, he used a very specific word (kurios in Greek) that would resonate greatly with his various audiences. Kurios, has four specific uses: (1) as a title of respect, as in sir or madam; (2) as a generic title for Roman emperors (who were believed to be gods); (3) as a generic title for the Greek gods (who were believed to be given dominion over the elements and other natural phenomena); (4) the Greek word for Jehovah, the Hebrew name of God, which means God exists, is eternal, and unchangeable, and keeps His promises. So to put it all together, Paul is saying that Jesus deserves our respect; is greater than any Roman emperor or Greek God; and is the fulfilled promise of the eternal God!

Right after the Great Commission, where Jesus told his disciples that their job was to go into the world and share the Good News, he reminded them that he is with them to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). This echoes the promise that God gave the Israelites as they made their way into the Promised Land, telling them not to fear who, or what, lies ahead, but to be bold and courageous, because God was with them (Deuteronomy 31:6).

To put it simply, we are to yield our natural desire to be in charge or to be top dog, allowing Jesus to do what he does, so we can focus on what we are created and called to do. While we travel along Jesus Road, two things happen: (1) God reveals to us the fullness of the beauty of salvation that we cannot see from any other vantage point; and (2) we develop a burden for helping Jesus in the task of changing the world. Consider these words from Ephesians 2:11-13, “Now God has us where he wants us [on Jesus Road], with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start [U-Turn!] to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing [Yield!]! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”

We have work to do and we are set free by Jesus to get it done in his name. After all, Jesus is the name of the one who in time will cause every knee to bow and tongue confess that he is Lord over all (Philippians 2:10-11). But why wait until then? Yield today! Believe that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the grave, and confess that to others as you travel down Jesus Road. Do this and you will be saved! And not only you, because you can play a part in helping introduce others to Jesus and see that they, too, can experience the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is the work we had better be doing, so let’s yield to the Lordship of Jesus, see who and what is coming, and ease on down the road!

Merge

As we continued our journey down Jesus Road in our U-Turns Allowed message series, we explored the concept of merge. Imagine you are traveling on I-285 and are trying to merge onto GA-400. If you have ever traveled this stretch, you know that you enter GA-400 via a clover leaf-type entrance ramp that slows your speed. What makes this tricky, though, is you are merging into the left lane (or fast lane, as some call it) of traffic. This is a pretty precarious traffic pattern to be sure, because people traveling north on GA-400 are traveling interstate speeds and you have to merge into them from a reduced speed. Making this kind of merge requires you to be conscious of your speed versus the speed of oncoming traffic, the proximity of cars heading your way, cars in other lanes that might be trying to out-maneuver others, and of course vehicles or other potential hazards ahead of you. It is pretty nerve-wracking driving if you ask me! Perhaps the best news, though, is everyone is traveling in the same direction, so you do not have to worry about oncoming traffic.

Considering merging on the highway, we can also see a metaphor for merging into the Body of Christ for our spiritual journey. It can be easy for some who have been on Jesus Road for a long time to forget that we are not all merging at the same place or at the same pace. This can be frustrating for some, but no more so for the ones trying to merge onto Jesus Road. Think about it…in churches we have our own nifty ways of doing things, terminology to describe it, and thousands of years of history and tradition to support it. For someone who is just beginning their journey, however, this knowledge might seem intimidating and foreign. So when those of us who have been on Jesus Road for a while see others who are looking to follow the Lord’s lead to merge onto Jesus Road, it is incumbent upon us to make sure we are conscientious and compassionate so we can help them cultivate what God is doing in their lives. 

In Romans 15.1-13, the Apostle Paul gives some great insight and advice for how to help others merge. At the beginning of this passage, we read Paul say, “Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, ‘How can I help?’” If we apply this to our traveling metaphor, those who are strong and established in their faith need to look for ways to be intentional about helping others merge onto Jesus Road. This means slowing our own pace down at times, waving people into our proverbial lane ahead of us, and keeping our eyes peeled for potential hazards that lie ahead. We simply cannot expect everyone to be at the same place, or going the same pace, as we might be as we travel down the road. This is one of the surest ways to tell people they are not welcome on Jesus Road.

In Romans 15.12, Paul uses the musical term, harmony, to describe the way we think about our spiritual journeys with others. When we listen to our favorite choir or music group, what makes the song so beautiful and dynamic is everyone doing their own part to add to the overall experience of the moment. Not everyone is singing the same notes or even playing the same instruments at the same time. We often talk about unity (or unison in music) but this can only be so dynamic! What makes it complex, beautiful, and interesting is to see and hear how each person brings his or her own unique contribution to the piece, and then seeing how it all unfolds. This harmony – each and every one doing his or her own part – is what brings beauty and life to the various notes and squiggles on the page.

The same needs to be true for our journey down Jesus Road. We need to welcome those who are in different places and going different paces, but seek to join the same road to reach the same destination – Jesus! When we allow our lives to be used to help others merge onto Jesus Road, bringing their unique and individual contributions to this complex world, then we will find our own lives joining into the anthem of heaven and singing praises and glory to God!